Cold Feet

Series One begins with Adam and Rachel celebrating an anniversary of sorts. Adam, revealing a propensity for slushy romanticism, decides to make a song and dance about it with fairly disastrous consequences. It's this same romanticism that gets him into trouble as a charming but incorrigible womaniser in later episodes. But not before the couple move in together, explore their sexual fantasies and then watch as the shine of love gets tarnished by petty irritations and Rachel's intolerance of Adam's bad habits. Meanwhile after all their struggles to conceive, Jenny gives birth to baby Adam which leaves her and Pete exhausted and wistful about their long-gone social life. By the end of the series David and Karen have gone one stage further and tried marriage counselling after David started having problems in the bedroom department. This takes some feats of persuasion on Karen's part--one of David's defining characteristics is his constant worry about what other people think--but the yuppie couple do see some of the benefits in Series Two. Like all good drama, the series ends with a cliffhanger in the form of some bombshell news from Rachel, who is last seen boarding a train for London.

The fetching Helen Baxendale returns in the second series of the popular comedy drama. Following three wildly disparate couples in Manchester, this series of COLD FEET begins as Rachel (Baxendale) returns after having left Adam at the end of the first series, only to find that he has started dating again.

Although its premise of three men, three women and their interconnected lives and loves may mark the show as a copy based on an American template, Cold Feet has slowly but surely developed into a masterpiece of its own. The third series delivers more of the same, but the script is so perfectly written and delivered that it feels like they could continue running with the same premise indefinitely and no one would mind. The performances are, as ever, sublime--particularly the trio of James Nesbitt, John Thomson and Fay Ripley--and the humour is relaxed and unhurried, leaving room for large amounts of drama. With this series seeing dramatic plot lines being developed for all six characters there is also a fair amount of suspense (the story of Rachel and Adam's wedding will have you on the edge of your seat) and the writers are in no rush to wrap things up, merely leaving you agog for the developments in Series Four. Newcomers to Cold Feet should not worry about joining the show late, as they will quickly fall into step with the ins and outs of this group of British friends.

The fourth series of Cold Feet marks something of a watershed for the six friends from Manchester. Previous series, punctuated with drunken bachelordom, mindless flings and wild stag weekends, give way to themes of alcoholism, broken families and divorce. It's also part-way through the fourth series that Jenny leaves Manchester for pastures new, thus departing Fay Ripley's hugely popular and instantly missable character.
As fans have come to expect, however, such dramatic shifts are handled with assurance, finesse and sensitivity by writer Mike Bullen. Everything from the script to the acting is in tune with the exceptional comic and dramatic standards set by previous episodes. Hermione Norris as Karen delivers a remarkable performance as her world tumbles around her while James Nesbitt maintains his perfect portrayal of Adam, suitably moving and hilarious by turns. There's also room for a new character: Rachel's bubbly Australian workmate Jo seamlessly enters the circle of friends, providing Pete with a new love interest.

The irresistible wit, comedy and drama we have come to expect from Cold Feet is again obvious in Series 5, but the lives of the ensemble of friends have changed almost beyond recognition. Adam (James Nesbitt) and Rachel (Helen Baxendale) are preoccupied with baby son Matthew, the stable Marsden family has disbanded and fall-guy Pete looks to have found true love at last. It seems wholly appropriate that Cold Feet should end at this juncture and it's all the more fitting that the show is given such a first-class send off. That's not to say that everything is conveniently tidied up in the final episode, nor that the series has run its course to the point of becoming dull. There's still much to enjoy in this fifth series, a triumph of scriptwriting, acting and production values that stands on a level with anything from the previous episodes, or indeed with anything else on television.
Simply put, it's the astonishing twist in the tale that singles this series out as the right place to stop. Cold Feet devotees will be hard pushed to hold back the tears in what is an emotional rollercoaster ride. It's all the more credible for the way it's presented: there's no over-the-top dramatics, no over-long sentimentality and no over-acting to speak of.